Blog: Penner’s Pen

Penner’s Pen

Larry Penner is a concerned self described taxpayer and citizens’ civic activist who will be blogging about government, budgets, politics, economic and civil liberties issues of interest to local residents. He has been an avid letters to the editor contributor for over twelve years. His works have been periodically featured on the pages of The Queens Courier along with many other daily and weekly newspapers in Queens, the Metropolitan New York area and various magazines around the nation.

Why Senator Gillibrand will not debate Long
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 8/23/2012 at 10:27AM

Junior New York State Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has never been bashful around a camera or microphone just like her mentor Senior New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer. She will follow the infamous Rose Garden strategy of ignoring her Republican/Conservative challenger Wendy Long. With less than ten weeks to election day, she has yet to commit [...]

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is a man of ideas
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 8/16/2012 at 2:32PM

There are two sides to every story concerning President Obama and Democratic surrogate attack dogs Vice President Joe Bidden, Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid, Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi along with New York Democratic Senators Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and lame duck Congressmember Gary Ackerman. They will all quickly pile on attacking Republican presidential [...]

The Passing of Fioravante Perrotta
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 8/09/2012 at 11:01AM

There is more to the recent passing of Fioravante Perrotta, who held various positions working for both Republican Mayor John Lindsay and Governor Nelson Rockefeller. He ran on the Republican and Liberal party lines in 1969 for NYC Comptroller losing a close race to Democrat Abe Beame. This was a fusion ticket with John Lindsay [...]

Why Senator Gillibrand has already won a full six-year term
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 8/02/2012 at 11:07AM

The November election results are already in. Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been elected to serve a full six-year term. Based upon the State Board of Elections registration figures as of April 1, 2012 — New York continues to evolve into an overwhelming Democratic bastion. Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2,821,021 voters. There are 5,649,934 registered [...]

Happy 48th birthday to Queens public transportation
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 7/26/2012 at 10:35AM

The success of public transportation can be traced back to one of the late President Lyndon Johnson’s greatest accomplishments which continues benefiting many Americans today. On July 10th, 1964 he signed the “Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964″ into law. Subsequently this has resulted in the investment over time of several hundred billion dollars into [...]

Pay increases for Albany representatives after you re-elect them?
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 7/19/2012 at 10:47AM

Voters should be aware before voting for their incumbent state assemblymembers and state senators that they are considering voting themselves a pay hike via the back door. Just like the cowardly lion from the land of Oz, otherwise known as Albany, they lack the courage to cast this vote in the light of day prior [...]

Who is really running City Hall these days
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 7/13/2012 at 9:35AM

One wonders if New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is in charge, rather than Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Consider that only four of 51 NYC Council members are Republican. Add to that the handful of moderate Democrats you can count on one hand such as Astoria Councilmember Peter Vallone, it is no wonder Speaker Quinn [...]

How many languages should your election ballot be in?
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 7/05/2012 at 11:56AM

New York State Assemblymember David Weprin along with State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky supporting a bill to put Bengali, Punjabi and Hindi on ballots and election material is disappointing. Weprin’s grandparents or great grandparents emigrated to America just like mine. They quickly learned to assimilate by learning English, became American citizens and began participating in [...]

Remember the old Little Neck Parkway Q79 Bus?
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 6/28/2012 at 2:32PM

This past Saturday, June 25th marked the second Anniversary for the demise of our old New York City Transit Q79 Little Neck Parkway bus. Two years ago to the day, at 6:23 p.m., right on time, my wife and I boarded the last Q79 bus departed Little Neck for its final destination on Jericho Turnpike [...]

President Obama loves hanging out with the infamous 1 percent
Penner's Pen Larry Penner 6/21/2012 at 11:25AM

Did you and I miss our invitations to attend President Barack Obama’s appearance at Sarah Jessica Parker’s West Village townhouse at $40,000 per plate, or $10,000 for the Plaza Hotel last Thursday? Both combined raised $4.5 million toward Obama’s goal of a $1 billion re-election campaign fund. How ironic that Obama comes to the Big [...]